HOW TO MAKE NEXT YEAR AWESOME
Anonymous
December 19, 2025
What if I told you there’s an easy way to plan for 2026 that feels exciting, fun, invigorating and even thrilling?
We are about to toast our way into another year, with most of us busy overthinking the intentions and resolutions we think we “should” be engaging in straight away - eat more protein, lift heavier weights, totally eliminate sugar, cook more…
Historically, for me, that’s what New Year’s used to be all about - making promises to myself based on shame or fear or disappointment rather than making some healthier decisions based on excitement and hope for a better future. I would contemplate all the things I didn’t do or didn’t do well enough in the previous year instead of concentrating on the growth that did happen, spending time envisioning what I’d like to happen next.
I stopped doing this common New Year’s practice about 3 years ago. I began a couple of new approaches to ringing in a New Year that have made the whole transition feel very different - way easier, way lighter, way more hopeful, and absolutely way more sustainable (unlike resolutions that tend to fizzle out by February and March).
What did I do, you ask?
TWO THINGS
1. I rang in the New Year on December 31st reading little post-it notes that I’d scribbled on every Friday of the previous year, with the top 3 things I was especially grateful for each week. By doing this, I was purposefully focusing on all the wonderful things that happened to me rather than the stuff I wanted to change.
This one thing has transformed New Year’s Eve celebrations for me! It catapults me into the next year full of gratitude and a deep knowing that more things to be grateful for are inevitably on their way to me.
Here’s a photo of my 2025 jar with post-it’s I’ll be reading through this December 31st!
2. I choose a word for the New Year to be the lens through which I view everything that happens. I really hope you’ll do this too! It’s a favorite annual tradition I choose that over the years has led to a sense of being more anchored in my daily life. The words I choose each year help me shape my decisions, guide my activities, and constantly remind me of my chosen North Star when I’m feeling uncertainty.
Over the three years, my words have been clarity, simplicity, and expansion.
My word for 2026? WONDER (Sound intriguing?)
Wonder isn’t solely about finding new things to see in the world. For me, it’s about bringing a sense of wonder to everything I do even on a routine, daily basis, so that I catch the beauty inherently in those moments that normally are taken for granted and missed.
I suspect seeing my life through the lens of wonder in 2026 will expand my awareness of the amazing, the magical, the impressiveness of all things I get to see. I will become more appreciative of the connections around me, the exquisite beauty of what some see as the mundane, the essentialness of all things of all sizes, and joy of being part of all that magic present in the Universe.
It will bring out the natural inquisitiveness I had as a child looking at everything around me as though for the first time, all the time. I think seeing my world through the word of wonder next year will transform my life experience and make it much more loved by me.
I’m looking forward to this gift!
Now, it’s your turn!
What would you like to invite into your life in 2026?
Maybe you’re internally yearning for more calm, creativity, or connection. Perhaps you seek simplicity, or to feel more gratitude or peace or freedom.
This intentional activity isn't about finding the most profound or Instagram-worthy word that someone else would think you’re cool for choosing.
It's about choosing a word with a meaning that both resonates with you deep down and sparks something greater inside of you - that can help you create a bigger, bolder, more authentic life for yourself.
HERE’S HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR WORD IN 3 STEPS
1. Think about how you want to feel next year.
Please don’t stress over this decision. Just carve out some space for yourself and reflect on what feels needed to keep growing next year.
Picture in your mind and heart what it’d be like to feel this way every single day next year. Then choose the word that can help you make that feeling happen on purpose.
2. Trust your intuition - it always knows what’s best for you.
Consider what worked well in 2025 and what didn’t work out so well, and just reflect with no shame or disappointment.
What word or words pop into your mind when you think of how you’d like to feel in 2026? Your gut feeling over a word will be the right one for you. Believe it.
3. Now, apply your word to your entire life and see what beauty unfolds.
Imagine how your word could show up for you at work, at home, at bedtime, during conflict, when making big decisions? Then start living your life every day this way, through the lens of that word.
Your word, I promise, will become such a natural part of how you start showing up that it will stay with you long past 2026.
For me, I practiced so much with each of my previous words that today, I still see my daily activities through the lens of each one - clarity, simplicity, and expansion. And now, in 2026, I’ll add wonder.
So, what will your word be for 2026? I’d love for you to share it in the comments.
🥂I’d like to raise a toast to you, my friend, as you are about to enter into a brand new year of possibilities! I wish you to have a New Year filled to the brim with more health and joy and love, and a word to bring you there with intention.
Cheers to YOU,
Dr. Krista
DrAc, IFMCP
CHECK OUT HOW TO WORK 1:1 WITH ME (Acupuncture, Consultations)